My mother prefers not speaking about an incident that took place one hot summer afternoon decades ago. I was an infant then, cradled in her arms as she sat beside my father in the front seat of their car. My sister and brother were in the backseat behind us. Suddenly, the car heaved, belched and died. With smoke bellowing from its engine, my father allowed it to coast to the side of the road, where it refused to start again. After considering his options, he decided to walk to the next town for help, promising to return shortly. As he disappeared from sight, my mother reached over and locked the doors. Time passed, and she did her best to entertain her children, playing word games and singing songs. Just before dusk, a car pulled up behind us, and a man got out. My mother recalls him as being dressed nicely with a friendly face.

He walked up to the car and leaned down. “You need some help?”

My mother smiled and rolled the window down several inches. “We’re fine, thank you. My husband went for help. We should be okay.”

The man straightened, glanced up and down the road, and bent down again. “What’s the problem?”

My mother shook her head. “We don’t know. We’re hoping he’ll find someone can tell us.”

The man stared at her through the glass. “Is it just the four of you?”

“Yes, but we’re fine. Really we are.”

The man persisted. “Leaving a woman stranded alone on this road is foolish.”

Suddenly, he grabbed the door handle and yanked it. The car trembled, but the lock held. He bent down and glared at my mother, his face twisted with rage, before reaching over and yanking at the back door too. He walked around the car trying each door as my terrified mother pulled her children against her. Eventually, the man returned to his car, but paused long enough to pull up alongside my mother and stare at her before speeding away. She didn’t mention the incident to my father until months later.

Recently, when I asked her why, she looked at me with a mixture of confusion and pain before shaking her head. “We don’t talk about that anymore.” And she turned and walked away.